A stakeholder meeting was held
on 2nd July 2024 at Director Office, AIIMS Raipur. Lt Gen Ashok Jindal (Retd.), Executive Director &
CEO, AIIMS Raipur met Chief (In-Charge) of UNICEF Chhattisgarh office, Mr.
William Hanlon Jr alongside Dr. Anil Kumar Goel, Program Director & HOD
Pediatrics, AIIMS Raipur, Dr. Aparna Deshpande, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF
Raipur, and Dr. Mahendra Prajapati,
Nutrition Officer, UNICEF Raipur. The meeting was aimed to discuss the progress
of the State Center of Excellence for Nutrition Interventions (SCoE4N)
established under Department of Pediatrics, AIIMS Raipur and scope of further
collaboration and way forward was discussed. Mr. William has appreciated the ongoing implementation of Community Based Management
of Severe Acute Malnutrition (CSAM) by Department of
Women and Child Development and Department of Health and Family welfare,
Government of Chhattisgarh, aptly led and supported by SCoE4N-AIIMS
Raipur with support of UNICEF Chhattisgarh. The innovative
practices of NRC Tele-monitoring and IYCF Tele0mentoring initiated by SCOE4N
were also acknowledged. In the past year (2023) the center has completed Tele-
monitoring of 106 Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers (NRCS) and Tele-mentoring on
Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) of counsellors from 57 state Government run health
facilities. District level Project team
supported the monitoring of
more than 1100 AWCs and supported Department of Woman and Child
Development in training more than 22,000 AWWs on Poshan Tracker and CSAM.
Measuring Efficiency (for 22.5 Lac children) in the Poshan Tracker improved
from 16% in January 2023 to 95% in December 2023. Team could also support the
enrollment of more than 14,000 SAM and MAM children in CSAM programme, which
was started with 208 enrollments in January 2023. Mr. William also visited the
IYCF Skill lab and SMART Unit (Severe Acute Malnutrition Referral & Advance
Treatment) of SCoE4N, meant for management of severely complicated SAM
Children, where he interacted with the team members and observed the work
firsthand with much zeal. He has also been through the research and knowledge
management work initiated in the area of malnutrition reduction by SCOE4N. With
mutual agreement of both the heads
Dr Jindal and Mr. William, it was decided
that the holistic model of SCoE4N and its functioning will be
disseminated with ministry and with other states attempting to curtail
malnutrition. It is envisioned to organize
a national level conference on CSAM to garner enthusiasm from stakeholders and representatives across all states of the
country. It was discussed that findings from the current project should reach
those working in the same
direction which will act as template for replication and will prevent
reinventing the wheel.